1. Background of the Invention
The present invention relates to a scrubbing, dust mopping, or a sweeping apparatus and in particular to scrub brushes or applications where material is being removed by an apparatus. The present invention relates to a swivel joint two piece unitary flexible molded elastomer attachment that allows multiple cleaning apparatuses to be attached and detached for cleaning purposes. The new innovation allows for easy engagement and disengagement of the swivel mechanism to the cleaning head apparatus thus eliminating costly swivel joints that are adjoined to prior art swivel joint type cleaning apparatuses. In addition, the swivel type cleaning head apparatuses can be used as a hand held cleaning apparatus when not engaged with the swivel type joint quick release mechanism. In addition, using an elastomer material for the jaw type connector that encompasses the swivel axis allows for the jaws to be preloaded thus the swivel does not become loose.
2. Description of Prior Art
The standard swivel type floor cleaning apparatus has two primary components. The first component is the floor cleaning head such as a dust mops, wall washer, grout cleaner, scrub brush, abrasive pad holder. All these floor-cleaning apparatuses have an adjoined embodied swivel type connector that is permanently attached to the cleaning apparatus making them very costly. The second primary component of floor cleaning apparatuses is the handle which is usually a cylindrical pole that is inserted into the swivel joint handle connector. The floor handle connector is only removable by unthreading the lock nut or twisting the handle out of the handle connector leaving the swivel joint mechanism attached to the cleaning apparatus. The combination of the unitary elastomer quick disconnect and rotating swivel type mechanism permits all floor cleaning apparatuses to be pushed and pulled by exertion of a force on the handle and flex when coming in contact with obstacles. Prior art has also addressed the issue of loose swivels as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,763,377
One significant problem with swivel type floor cleaning apparatuses is the swivel type apparatus eventually breaks around the swivel type axis and/or upper and lower support members supporting the axis when either hitting stationary objects or abuse. Also, when jam pin is inserted into the swivel joint to allow only one position to be retained, the leverage caused by the jam/stop causes swivel type attachments that are not made from flexible material to easily break. Also swivel joints that are used to adjoin a cleaning apparatuses like scrub brushes, wall cleaning, abrasive pad holders, flat wet mops and small dust mops are attached to the cleaning apparatus making the cleaning apparatus costly to manufacture. Such is the case in prior art U.S. Pat. No. 4,763,377. Also, the cleaning apparatus can only be used for floor cleaning due to the large swivel joint adjoined to the cleaning apparatus. Prior art such as “Flexible Elastomer Floor Dust Mop Attachment”, U.S. Pat. No. 6,237,182 does allow for easy disengagement and does preload the axis due to the elastomer material wrapping around the axis, but due to its flexible joint between the clamp and the handle connector, verses a swivel type joint, the flexible member does not allow for small cleaning device such as scrub brushes and other small cleaning apparatuses to lay flat on the ground during the cleaning operation and instead part of the scrub brush is lifted up when the flexible joint is pivoted. Simply put, the flexible joint acts as a spring action causing the floor cleaning apparatus to lift up on the opposing side of the pivoting action. On large dust mops this is not so evident, but on smaller cleaning apparatuses such as a scrub brush, wall washers and small dust mop frames this is unfortunately extremely apparent. Also, the flexible one piece joint cannot allow for the swivel movement to become fixed and not flex when cleaning areas that do not require the cleaning apparatus to swivel but instead to remain stationary. However, the present invention allows for the swivel movement to be jam/stop by the use of a jam pin thus stopping the swivel movement. Other disengagement type swivel joints like Large dust mop frames do have disconnecting swivel joints like U.S. Pat. No. 5,901,402 but due to the large size of the connector, multiple parts causing looseness when attached to a small cleaning device they are not functional. Also, prior art U.S. Pat. No. 4,763,377 prevents loose swivels but is not as cost effective as the present invention due to the swivel joint being attached directly to the cleaning apparatus so when the brush is worn both the brush and swivel joint is discarded thus making the product more costly that a reusable swivel joint that can be used on other cleaning apparatuses.
Therefore, a significant need exists to improve upon the previous patents that allows for an elastomeric flexible swivel connector that when abused or placed in a fixed position flexes thus eliminating breakage and negotiates around obstacles that would of otherwise break or damaged the fixed position or swivel type handle connector. Also, allows for a more cost effective non-loosening swivel type floor connector that can be easily detached from multiple cleaning devices thus allowing the cleaning apparatus to also be used for hand operations thus reducing cost, space and increasing durability.